Herbert Sutcliffe

England •
83 years old

Herbert Sutcliffe

Born on
November 24, 1894 at Summerbridge, Harrogate, Yorkshire

Right Handed Batsman
and Right-arm medium bowler

Teams played for England

Born in 1894, Herbert Sutcliffe went into the history books as one of England's finest opening batsman and gained fame by partnering Sir Jack Hobbs to form a formidable opening pair in late 1920s. His...
Full profile

Batting stats

M

Inn

Runs

HS

Avg

SR

NO

100

50

4s

6s

Tests

54

84

4555

194

59.93

69.46

8

16

23

247

6

Bowling stats

M

Inn

B

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Econ

Avg

SR

5W

10W

Tests

54

0

0

0

0

- / -

- / -

0

0

0

0

0

ICC Rankings

Batting

Current Rank

Career Best

TEST

--

1

ODI

--

-

Bowling

Current Rank

Career Best

TEST

--

27

ODI

--

-

-- indicates player not in top 100Rank changes shown are of the last 30 days

Born in 1894, Herbert Sutcliffe went into the history books as one of England's finest opening batsman and gained fame by partnering Sir Jack Hobbs to form a formidable opening pair in late 1920s. His immense concentration levels at the crease and success in 'bad wickets' garnered a lot of respect. The Yorkshireman's cricketing career was stretched from 1919 to 1945 spread across two World Wars.

Surprisingly, Sutcliffe was first noted as a bowler rather than a batsman when he first entered club cricket. He even went on to take all 10 wickets in an innings in a game in 1907. A few years later, the Yorkshire Cricket Club noted his performances and gave him an opportunity to play in its 2nd team. In 1914, Sutcliffe made a fine fifty in the second innings of his first game as opener and grabbed eyeballs. He also broke the record for most runs scored in a season. The First World War interrupted his career in 1915 when he was called up to serve at the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Managing to play once in a while, Sutcliffe was in touch with the game, until he was relieved in 1919 to go back to play for the Yorkshire 2nd team again. He finally broke into the Yorkshire main team the same year but could only debut as a middle-order batsman. However, he was promoted to open the innings after a few games and he scored his maiden first-class hundred against Northamptonshire. He continued to pile on the runs and made good progress with fellow-opener Percy Holmes. Eventually, Sutcliffe made over 1800 runs, a record for a debut season and the opening duo bagged the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1920 for sharing 5 century partnerships apart from 5 individuals hundreds.

Even though he had two poor seasons in 1920 and 1921, Sutcliffe raised his graph in the next two years. With the money that he got from playing first-class cricket, Sutcliffe opened a sportswear shop in 1924 at Leeds. It was an unforgettable year for him as he got the England breakthrough and made a brilliant start to his Test career alongside Jack Hobbs making over 300 runs in his debut series including a hundred in just his second game. The England selectors wasted no time and named him for the Ashes tour Down Under the same year and Sutcliffe did not disappoint them as he scored 734 runs in the entire series even though his side lost 4-1 to Australia.

The next Ashes series in 1926, in England, was a very memorable one for Sutcliffe. After the first four Tests failed to yield a result, The Oval played host to the final Test which was a timeless match. Australia managed a slender first innings lead despite England having batted first. In the second innings, Sutcliffe and Hobbs batted carefully and wiped off the deficit by close of play on the second day. The third day was marred by rain and the skies cleared up. Play resumed but the pitch turned into a sticky surface making life extremely difficult for the batsmen. However, the duo fought hard and made a fine 172-run stand after which Sutcliffe went on to make 161 to help England win the game and regain the Ashes since 1912.

Sutcliffe continued the good work and was again selected for the 1928-29 Ashes in Australia. Needing over 300 for a win at Melbourne, Sutcliffe and Hobbs put on a sensational 105-run first wicket stand on a rain-battered wicket that Don Bradman described as “the worst sticky I ever saw.” Despite the loss of Hobbs, Sutcliffe continued to fight and made 135 to take his side home and later revealed that this was his finest knock ever. He then made 4 centuries against South Africa followed by a 161 against Australia at the Oval. In 1930-31, he, alongside Hobbs, toured India and Ceylon to represent Maharajkumar of Vizianagram's cricket team.

Sutcliffe was a key member of the England side during the bodyline tour in 1932-33 and he made a brilliant 194 in the first Test at Sydney, which happened to be his highest Test score. Since then, he never made a century and eventually, a Test match at Lord's against South Africa in 1935 was his last, having featured in 54 games. He served for the Army during the Second World War in 1939 and occasionally played in charity games. Sutcliffe was awarded the honorary MCC Membership in 1949 and later also became a selector. In 1965, the Yorkshire club opened a gate in his name in the approach to the Headingley ground. His 84-year life span came to an end in 1978 when he was finally laid to rest. Later in 2009, the legendary Herbert Sutcliffe was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Stat: Herbert Sutcliffe, till date, holds the record for the quickest to 1000 runs in Test cricket. It was equalled by Everton Weekes later on. Both got it in just 12 innings.